Germany wants to curb SUV boom

Germany’s Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt) wants to use the bonus-malus principle to make it more expensive to drive cars with high CO2 emissions – and to promote the purchase of more fuel-efficient new vehicles.  

The measure – designed to be budget neutral – takes aim at SUVs in particular; a segment that continues to grow in popularity, despite its low fuel efficiency and high emissions level (pictured: SUV Jeep in Hanover). 

The number of new SUVs registered in Germany last month stood at 66,660 units, an increase of 15.6%, compared to July 2018. Sales of off-road vehicles – a separate SUV category based on technical features – increased even more, by 19.4% to 35,358 units. Meanwhile, the overall car market grew by less than 5%.  

On 20 September, Germany’s government convenes in a special Climate Cabinet to decide on a comprehensive package of environmental measures. 

According to experts at the University of Duisburg-Essen, SUVs newly registered in the first half of this year emitted an average of 144.1 grams of CO2 per km, for fuel consumption of 6.2 litres of petrol per 100 km. The average for all cars (including SUVs) was 133.5 grams of CO2/km, for consumption of 5.6 litres per 100 km.